


In The Whale

by Estirose



Category: Final Fantasy II
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-16
Updated: 2014-05-16
Packaged: 2018-01-25 03:32:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1629278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Estirose/pseuds/Estirose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Somehow, they all survive inside Leviathan.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In The Whale

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Stealth_Noodle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stealth_Noodle/gifts).



> Prompt: I am completely fascinated by the ENTIRE TOWN that exists inside Leviathan. It would be fantastic to see fic or art that explores what daily life is like inside a giant fish (in fic, either with original characters or by sending the party on a tour with the Guts Mayor or whatever). What do they do for food? How does the infrastructure work? Do the citizens quarrel over who has the best Crystal Rod? How on the earth do ALL of those people have Crystal Rods, anyway? 
> 
> Thanks to FireEye, who answered my call for a beta. :)

Melissa sang softly as she checked on the plants. Everybody who had a remotely green thumb was assigned plant duty, because the plants were almost the only things keeping them alive. Those, and the occasional fish that trickled out into small, almost hidden streams etched into Leviathan.

It was just living, as Matthew called it. Matthew, who had been there ten years in the prison that was Leviathan; Matthew, who once guarded the castle at Fynn before taking the voyage that trapped him there.

Matthew, who had taught them all to survive, to coax food out of meager plants created from long-ago seed. Matthew, who taught them how to avoid the stomach acid and instead find the fresh streams, who kept them all alive in those long, scary, painful first days. It wasn't the nicest place to live, as Matthew continually reminded them, but it was a place to live. And as long as they avoided the monsters, they were fine.

Of course, everybody avoided the Dragoon and the old man as well. The old man had been part of a ship that had been swallowed a year or three back; not as far back as Matthew, but farther than them. Her group was there because of the Dragoon, Ricard.

The old man had been pretty much left to die, Matthew and the ones from the last ship had told her. But he could find enough fish to survive on his own, apparently. And even if they didn't like the Dragoon, he did keep them fairly safe from monsters. That was the only reason he got food.

Benny ran into the room. He was the youngest of her ship's survivors, only about eight. Everybody looked after him, because his unfailing cheerfulness despite everything had a surprisingly good effect on morale. "Miss Melissa! Miss Melissa! See what I found?"

"What did you find, Benny?" she asked gently, stopping her tasks to focus on him. The plants would hold for a few minutes; there were no insects other than a tiny hive of bees, and the bees would hardly bother them.

"This!" He held up a tiny pouch, the straps slightly loosened. "Miss Angela says I can keep it."

Inside were a few pieces of gil. Melissa had to wonder what unfortunate traveler had lost it and how it had ended up in Leviathan's stomach.

"Very good!" Just as he tried to cheer everybody else up, they tried to keep him happy. "It's amazing what Leviathan brings to us, isn't it?"

"Yeah!" Benny bounced up and down. "Wait until I show Ziggy when we get home!"

Ziggy was his friend, she knew. She didn't have the heart to tell him that he probably wouldn't ever see Ziggy again, just as none of them would see their loved ones ever again.

"Yes, keep it with your things. I'm sure he'll be happy to see it when we get out of here."

Someday, when he got older, they'd tell him he'd probably grow old and die in that place. Or maybe he'd give in to despair like so many did and throw himself to a monster or into the stomach acid. The acid seemed so much kinder.

"I will! I'll put it with my things in the cabinet." He ran off to do just that.

The cabinet had apparently been part of some ship's cargo hold. Even Matthew didn't remember how it had arrived, as with most of the rest of the furniture. The planters had been some cabinets, but they'd been taken apart long ago for their present purpose.

She didn't care. All she cared about was living one day after another, even when she wasn't sure what a day was. Some people slept while some people worked and some people played. All they could do was keep things in good shape. Not that they'd have kids to pass them on to, of course. Nobody could imagine raising a kid in the grim place. Nobody was even sure it was possible to carry a baby to term.

No, they would live in this whale and die, forgotten. Maybe her brothers and sisters in Bafsk would sometimes wonder what had happened to her body, but she didn't think they'd worry that long, not with all that had been going on when she'd boarded that boat to Fynn.

There was a noise, the clatter of armor, and she looked up to see the Dragoon pass by in his silent patrol. It seemed that he was just fine not talking to anybody. People could be that way, but sometimes she hoped that the whole thing was driving him mad.

It was his fault, anyway. It was his fault that she was here and not in Fynn. That she was trying to survive inside a whale instead of on her way back to Bafsk. She couldn't have imagined a more horrible fate for herself and the others.

"Everything okay?" Alfred asked, poking his head in. He was the one who coordinated all the schedules, listened to everybody complain, and still pulled fishing shift as often as he could. He was the nearest thing to a leader that their small - and still shrinking - group had.

"Yes." She felt Leviathan shudder, as if it had bumped into something. "Plants are fine."

"Don't forget to rest," Alfred told her. "I have a feeling that we're going to have another set of people here soon. Leviathan's been moving like he did just before you folks arrived."

She nodded. "More people to survive, then." She hoped for another woman; most of the group was men, and she just wanted to have someone to talk to. "Wonder what fool brought the damned Rod this time?"

"We'll do what we always do with them." Alfred was nodding. "And as for the rest, find out what they can do and can't do, set up schedules, get them used to things."

"They'll probably mope and be useless for a few days when it hits them," Melissa warned. That was how she and the others had been, after all.

"And make themselves useful enough after that, or at least fill a monster's stomach." Alfred was looking at the wall. He disliked people dying as much as she did, but those that didn't work didn't stay alive. Except for the crazy old man.

"Yes." Alfred gave her a slight smile and walked away, while she returned to her plants. Alfred was right; it was almost the end of her shift, and she was tired.

Tomorrow, or at least the time she woke up, would be another day.


End file.
